Police have arrested a bank teller for helping an NYPD rookie pull off two robberies at the East Village bank last year. Christina Dasrath admitted to cops that she received a portion of the $118,000 taken. Police officer Christian Torres was arrested last week after robbing a Sovereign Bank in Pennsylvania of more than $100,000. It turns out Torres was tipped off by Dasrath about the East Village branch's lax security (plus security changes made......

Untitled, by nyer82 at flickr Who knows what the backstory is to this photograph, but it would be nice if New York City had more personnel in this capacity on the job.......

A pair of lawsuits from injured anti-war protesters have caused the NYPD to re-think its pro-active policing policies when it comes to crowd control. The suits, brought against the City by the New York Civil Liberties Union, ended in a settlement that included an agreement that cops would be a little more lenient with protesters. The Sun reports police will now "advise mounted police officers to warn people to disperse before using horses to break......

NYPD rookie Christian Torres has been charged in robbing an East Village Sovereign Bank branch twice. The law enforcement officer who held a second "job" as a felonious stickup man was initially arrested after robbing a Pennsylvania bank of $113,000. Torres robbed the New York bank a month before he entered the police academy and then again while he was a police officer; police found the clothes he wore during those robberies in his Queens......

Three men are under arrest today after a fourth man was found dead at the foot of a stairway in a Harlem building. 1010 WINS reports that when police responded to a call regarding a trespasser, they found a man hog-tied, unconscious and unresponsive. He was declared dead at the scene by emergency service workers.The dead man was identified as 33-year-old Shamod Murray. He was allegedly caught relieving himself in a hallway at 341 Lenox......

It's not unusual for police officers to make side money by moonlighting with second jobs. Christian Torres is a rookie cop, however, who took that practice to a whole new level--allegedly robbing banks when off duty. On Thursday, Torres arrested in Pennsylvania less than a block from the bank he just robbed. Unaware the teller had tripped a silent alarm and that a police officer followed him, he showed his NYPD badge, thinking he was......

Patients at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center are discovering a hidden cost of healthcare: the theft of their identities at the hands of a hospital employee. During a federal investigation, it was revealed that as many as 40,000 patients over the last five to six years had their names, phone numbers, and social security numbers stolen from hopsital records. An audit at the hospital confirmed that the information had been misappropriated. While no specific......

An NYPD officer is accused of using his authority to sexually prey on and assault women. Officer Wilfredo Rosario has been suspended from his position at Harlem's 26th Precinct as he was arraigned on charges of first-degree sexual abuse, official misconduct, unlawful imprisonment and attempted coercion. The charges stem from an incident in which Rosario met a 27-year-old woman with her child while he was in uniform. He told the woman he could help her......

Just hours after an out-of-control car drove onto the State Supreme Court's steps on Centre Street, another driver had a seizure at 29th Street and Fifth Avenue, crashing into a Subway restaurant at the corner. The incident occurred yesterday afternoon around 4 p.m. A person inside the building told NY1, "When I stepped out, the car was inside, halfway through Subway. I noticed that the guy was having a seizure, and everybody was trying......

As its name implies, Pam Real Thai Food is in the business of authenticity. So be forewarned that entrees marked with the restaurant's four pepper rating are seriously spicy, and even two-pepper dishes like Pla Lui Suan—a whole deep fried red snapper colorfully adorned with mango, cilantro, and lime—prove that chef and co-owner Pam Panyasiri isn’t playing when it comes to spice. The reasonably-priced menu offers extensive options for combining sweet, salty, and spicy,......

Manhattan may be more expensive to live in, but, hey, apparently Manhattan residents are less fat and more in shape than folks in other boroughs. The other week, the city's Health Department released a survey that showed New Yorkers were gaining weight at a rate nearly three times that of other Americans, packing on a total of 10 million pounds between 2002 and 2004, becoming more obese and more diagnosed with diabetes. The Times explains......

Photograph of the Cheyenne's exterior at night by Goggla on Flickr The Cheyenne Diner is closing for good today, to make room for another Manhattan residential building. The 68-year-old diner fell victim to the city's own successes and spiraling real estate costs. The owner of the property, George Papas, who owns the nearby Skylight Diner, figures that no matter how successful the Cheyenne is (a hamburger is $4.50, the lumberjack breakfast--two eggs, pancakes or......

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio recently purchased a unit at the David Rockwell-designed Riverhouse building in Battery Park City. The building is designed to be ecologically friendly while still luxurious. Details about the film star's specific residence weren't disclosed, but the Riverhouse has 264 units, including three bedroom duplexes that are still available. DiCaprio is well known for his eco-consciousness and speaks out on pro-environmental issues frequently. Riverhouse has its own water treatment and air filtration systems,......

A 24-year-old Columbia University student studying late at the library Friday evening is in critical condition at St. Luke's Hospital in Manhattan after his bid to escape a pair of muggers ended in serious injury under the wheels of a Jeep. According to WABC News, the student had just left the library on Columbia's Morningside Heights campus and was waiting for a bus around 9 p.m., when he was approached by two young men. It's......

The Manhattan real estate market was more expensive than ever during the first quarter according to reports from real estate brokerages. There were "record" highs for Manhattan, in sharp contrast to what the rest of the nation's housing market is going through. However, there are some mitigating factors: Though the median prices of apartments has risen to $917,000 from $840,000, that's because three times as many apartments over $10 million sold during this first quarter,......

Many have characterized New York City's real estate boom as insane, and this latest chapter adheres to that theme. The imposing and occasionally frightening-looking Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital on Manhattan's 1st Ave. may be transformed into a luxury hotel. According to the NYC Economic Development Corporation and Health and Hospitals Corporation, the current building would make an excellent location for a hotel and conference center to serve the medical and life sciences industry that has clustered......

Colors, the feel-good restaurant on Lafayette Street owned and operated by Windows on the World employees who were spared on 9/11, is reportedly back from the brink of ruin. The fine dining restaurant opened two years ago as one of New York’s few cooperative restaurants, with everyone from busboys to chefs sharing ownership and a menu featuring international cuisine created by the multi-ethnic staff. Though Colors did well during the first burst of publicity, business......

Downtown Manhattan residents have heard enough from honking cabs, and one Community Board is asking the Taxi & Limousine Commission to do something about the racket. Community Board 3, which represents the area of Manhattan containing the East Village, Lower East Side, and Chinatown, voted this week to formally request that the T&LC; require devices to be installed in cabs that will visually identify them as horn abusers. Currently, police have to audibly witness a......

A grandiose plan to turn Pier 40 on Manhattan's West Side into a riverside pleasure-dome was killed by the Hudson River Park Trust. The Trust objected to developer The Related Companies' insistence on a 50-year lease, because it had stipulated a 30-year lease. The Related Companies was willing to pay $625 million for the longer lease to create a permanent venue for the Cirque du Soleil as well as the Tribeca Film Festival. The Trust's......

Police arrested a man for allegedly starting a fire that disrupted traffic along the Henry Hudson Parkway yesterday. The blaze required 60 firefighters to extinguish. While no one was injured, but the median between the north- and south-bound parkways were blocked for an hour as 12 FDNY units were required to put out the urban wildfire. The suspected arsonist is a homeless man believed to be emotionally disturbed. The fire was noticed as park staff......

Dozens of protesters stood inside and out of a Community Board 3 meeting yesterday, claiming that a proposed rezoning plan was racist and could result in the displacement of minority community members. At issue is a rezoning plan that places height restrictions on new buildings going up on the Lower East Side and the East Village. Community board officials claim that the restrictions are necessary for the area to retain its innate character. Critics claim......

Lawyers for Natavia Lowery, the personal assistant accused of killing Linda Stein, are arguing in the press that a recently released forensics report practically exonerates their client from the crime. Police and the DA's office said that they'll wait until the trial to address the evidence, but that it was not as significant as Ron Kuby and David Pressman were describing. The forensic evidence was detailed in a report from the Office of the Chief......

Manhattan's Easter Parade is an annual tradition for people to show off their creativity as much as their finery. Young and old strut along 5th Avenue in front of an appreciative audience, even as they balance sometimes precarious constructions atop their heads. The parade used to be strictly for the peacockery of the well-heeled, but now anyone with a flair for creative design seems to have a chance to shine. Following is just a sample......

NYC Parks & Recreation is offering a $500 reward to find out who wantonly chopped down a grove of Eastern Red Cedar trees in Inwood Hill Park. The trees were planted in 1996 and were thriving, until visitors to the park discovered that 35 of the Red Cedars had been hacked to death with something like an ax. Surrounding species of trees were left unharmed. Someone out there has a serious problem with Red Cedars.......

A Katrina refugee who resettled in Texas following the flooding of New Orleans is suing a Manhattan hotel for $100 million, after she was nearly burnt to death in her room's shower. Ethel Tropez, a 79-year-old woman who had to resettle in Live Oak, TX after Katrina, was visiting NYC and staying at the Hotel Chandler on 31st St., near 5th Ave. She claims that while visiting the Manhattan with her daughter, she turned on......

The police arrested a 19-year-old man suspected of attacking two women in the West Village earlier this month. The Post reports Anthony Rosado was "picked up" on Friday for the assaults. In the early hours of March 2, a man viciously accosted women in separate incidents on Bleecker Street. In one attack, he threw the victim to the ground, hit her head against the ground and ripped off her pants, while in the other, he......

Screen grab of employee web tracking software A Manhattan court upheld the firing of city employee Toquir Choudhri for doing too much Web browsing on the City's time. Choudri, who was an education analyst for the Department of Education's Human Resources department, was fired in 2006 for spending far too much time online. He had been formally warned to knock of his Web-wandering ways, but an internal audit showed that despite the warning, Choudri......

As rescuers pick through the rubble of buildings crushed and damaged by a crane collapse in midtown Manhattan yesterday, real estate developer James Kennelly was familiar with the scene because he served 13 years with the FDNY, where he had been assigned to Ladder 16 in Manhattan on East 67th St. The developer of 303 East 51st St., a planned 40+ floor skyscraper where the crane was situated, Kennelly earned a bachelor and law degree......

For the second time in as many years, the famous Stage Deli in Manhattan was shuttered by the Dept. of Health after inspections found the restaurant infested with vermin. The Times Square institution was last closed in mid-2006 after it accrued too many points during a health inspection (points are for violations and a score above 28 is a failure.) As reported in The New York Times, the DOH inspected the Stage last Wednesday and......

A do-it-herself cosmetic unprofessional is promising women butts that look like J. Lo's, but is more likely threatening her clients' lives. Earlier this week, NY Post reported an Atlanta woman who concocted her own fly-in fly-out business, charging woman thousands of dollars for what could be an extremely dangerous and disfiguring procedure. Kimberly Smedley, who has Georgia shoplifting convictions, is described as cramming almost a dozen women into a Manhattan hotel room to undergo a......